Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Anglo Saxons and Their Horses (Part Two)

As I mentioned in Part One: Horses appear in several references in
the poem Beowulf written between 680 - 800. Racing is mentioned as Danish
warriors spur their bay horses renowned for speed and stamina and:

"Then, as a sign
of victory, Hrothgar, son of Healfdene

Presented to Beowulf
....

Eight war-horses

With glancing bridles,
one with a saddle

Studded with stones -
battle seat of the Danes."

Not to be
outdone, Beowulf presented Hrothgar with four matching bays and three graceful
horses, complete with brightly coloured saddles.

These references hint at several customs of this period: warriors
of renown and wealth rode swift, quality bred animals; fighting on horseback
was by no means unknown among the Anglo-Saxon people; import and export - or at
least, widespread trade - was conducted, and horses of quality were the
accepted currency of royal gifts.

Horses are often mentioned first in the tally of possessions due
to the Crown as heriot.

"Heriot to the lord (the king) 200 parks of red gold, two
silver cups and four horses, the best I have"

Wills illustrate the point as effectively:

"and I leave to the monastery .... 100 wild* horses and 16
broken stallions ... " Will of Wulfric, a Mercian
thane, 1002 (*unbroken i.e not trained to wear saddle and bridle or carry a
rider)

Because of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, where the English
fought on foot and the assumed superiority of the Norman cavalry eventually overcame the English,
it has been generally accepted that William brought with him an entirely new
method of warfare - mounted cavalry. Let's put this myth straight. He didn't.

That the English never fought on horseback is difficult to believe
- Anne Hyland asks: "Why was so much emphasis put on the heriots of the
ruling classes where warhorses had to be accompanied by the requisite saddle,
burnie, helmet and weapons?”

If the elite of the army
merely used horses for riding to battle and then dismounting, any breed or
category of horse would have sufficed. The smaller and sturdier the better, in fact. (Smaller 'native-bred' type ponies are much better doers than bigger domestic-bred horses.) It is also notable that William
continued the same heriot levy, indicating that pre-conquest equine usage
remained unchanged.

Another convincing argument that the pre-conquest English were familiar
to warfare on horse-back is displayed by the occurrence of events during Earl
Harold of Wessex's (later Harold II) visit to Normandy some few years before
1066. He and his retinue were invited to join in a campaign by Duke William in
Brittany. As Anne Hyland emphatically points out, there is an extreme
difference between sitting on a pony as transport, compared to the competent
skills required in riding and fighting on a warhorse. "The latter requires
a degree of confidence in one's own riding ability."

Had Harold not held this ability, there would have been no advantage in providing them
with such animals, indeed they would have been a liability to William’s planned
campaign – as well as looking prize fools to the Normans!

An incidental to add in here. 'Corn-fed' horses. I have used this term in my novels and receive complaints from apparently outraged readers in the USA. 'Corn,' they state (occasionally rudely) 'is grown in America. Anglo-Saxon England was not aware of America until the fifteenth century.' (Actually even that can be debated, but not here!) Very patiently I point out the different UK use of the word 'corn'fed'. It does not mean corn-on-the-cob growing 'as high as an elephant's eye'. It is a British term for oats and barley i.e. grain for animal feed. A 'corn-fed' horse in Britain indicates a well-fed, fit, on-its-toes animal - also indicating a well-to-do owner who can afford to feed horses grain not merely hay and grass. Present-day racehorses and competition horses are 'corn-fed'; little Exmoor ponies which get fat even looking at a single oat are not!

Wild Exmoor Ponies being brought in from Devon's Exmoor for the annual 'round-up'Photo : Dawn WestcottMust add: we now own one of those foals!

It seems likely that horses were used at Harold's victorious battle prior to Hastings
at Stamford Bridge in September 1066. Although sagas cannot always be relied
upon, the Saga of Snorri Sturleson, The
Heimskringla, is accurate in its main points. The saga states that the
English had cavalry and were not an infantry force. As a second point, Florence
of Worcester states that Harold assembled a cavalry in order to repel a landing
by his brother Tostig. Florence also mentions several other areas where cavalry
were used: against Macbeth in 1054 and the Welsh in 1063.

Finally, a considerable number of Saxon-era horseshoes have been found at
the scene of the battle. Harold went north at an unexpected speed. Fast travel
wears horseshoes quickly, loosening the clenches (nails) that hold the shoes on
securely, thus creating the easy loss, especially in fast manoeuvring or on
churned and muddy ground, and events and terrain comparable to a battlefield. A horse
accustomed to wearing shoes will quickly go lame.

Again here as a horse-owner and rider: from experience I have noted that given correct care the native-bred ponies often don't need shoes while the domestic-bred horses do. The only reason our Exmoor pony has front shoes (he doesn't need backs) is because he is ridden on a surfaced road. Otherwise, without shoes his feet are fine.

And then there was the need to hurry back south – again pressing
the horses. By early October the equine warhorse stock would have been beyond
use. This may well dictate why Harold relied upon infantry at Hastings. Too
many horses –those which had survived - would have been unfit and a significant
number must have been lost. The
Heimskringla states that weapons were aimed at the horses as much as the
riders. This has always been the case in warfare. Unseat the mounted rider and
incapacitate him.

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts several instances of horses being
violently overturned, one scene in particular, where a horse has his skull
cloven by an axe, highly illustrates the severe loss of horses suffered by the
Normans. Duke William himself had three horses killed from under him.

On that fateful day, October 14th 1066, Harold II, the
rightful King of England, chose to face the Normans atop a ridge some seven
miles from Hastings. Exactly where the ridge was located is immaterial. (There has
been speculation that perhaps the present-day ‘Senlac Ridge’ as depicted by
English Heritage where Battle Abbey now stands, may not be the precise spot of
the English Shield Wall.) The point is, Harold defended the ridge in that
nearby area – the only road from the coast to London went up and over that
ridge. To one side was thick forest, to the other deep marsh. Harold had to
deploy his men as infantry, not cavalry, but a man on foot is all too often
vulnerable to a man on horseback. To be effective, Harold had to take the
advantage – and he also had to know how to efficiently repel cavalry attacks. He
could only have known this by personally possessing the knowledge and
experience of how to fight on horseback. The English, therefore, without doubt,
were efficiently skilled at defending against repeated cavalry charges - a
skill that cannot be learnt by trial and error in the heat of battle, but acquired
through previous experience.

Senlac Hill and the place of battle
Battle Abbey, Sussex

Had Stamford Bridge not happened, would Harold have chosen a
different location to fight Duke William? Would he also have deployed his cavalry?

An would he, I wonder, have won?

This article was originally written as an essay in 1999 for a
history degree course at Birkbeck College, University of London. The Tutor’s assessment
read:

"This interesting essay covers an important area, which has
been neglected. Æthelstan may have fought on horseback, while Cnut and Æthelred
issued laws concerning the export of horses. The emphasis on Hastings, which
was an important battle but an unusual one, has distorted our view of
Anglo-Saxon warfare, as you demonstrate beautifully."

75% 8.3.1999

J. Mountain B.Sc. B.A

Extra Mural Certificate: A
Distinction was awarded in 1999 on the basis of this essay and others.

Extra Mural Diploma: I
graduated the course in 2000 with Merit.

One day I might find the time to go on and finish the degree!

UK and US editions of my novel of the events that led to The Battle of Hastings, 1066

4 comments:

On the subject of domestic-bred horses needing shoes, mine are not shod, and never will be, we ride on roads and stony surfaces all the time, the more roadwork we do, the quicker the hoof grows. No shoes required :-)

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